On Deck (Game 3): Orioles at Yankees

The Yanks will look to rebound from a disappointing performance in Andy Pettitte’s return to the Bronx tonight against the Orioles. Mike Mussina will take the hill, and he needs to go 6 innings, if not more. Torre probably won’t use Farnsworth, and Proctor and Vizcaino were both touched up tonight. Mo is the only member of the Yanks pen with any kind of rest (unless you count Sean Henn, and I don’t.)

In a nutshell: The O’s purposely held Loewen out of their opening series against the Twins (the orange birds got swept) because he has dominated the Yanks in the past. Damon’s out (MRI on his calf), Melky’s in (Cabrera was 0–4 last night, and didn’t look good at all at the plate).

Keys to the game: Well, let’s start with the basics. PLAY DEFENSE. The Yanks starters are already hard pressed to get three outs per inning, they just can’t hack needing to get 4 or 5 because the defense behind them is leaking like a sieve. Let me expand upon the keys, 1) Play defense, 2) Throw strikes 3) Don’t leave a small village on the bases. The Yanks were 0 for 3 in these key categories last night, let’s hope they can turn the page against the O’s.